Boot error - 3Com 3C509-TPO Etherlink 3

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

owner-freebsd-questions at freebsd.org wrote:
> Hey there. I'm trying to do a fresh install of 5.3, but can't get
> past this error: 
> 
>    ep0: <3Com 3C509-TPO EtherLink III> at port 0x300-0x30f
> irq10 on isa0
>    ep0: No irq?!
>    ep0: ep_alloc() failed! (6)
>    panic: resource_list_release: resource entry is not busy   
>    Uptime: 1s Automatic reboot in 15 seconds - press a key on the
> console to abort 
> 
> I had no problem with this model of NIC under 5.1, but I can't seem to
> get going with 5.3. I've swapped cards, swapped machines, swapped
> installation methods (floppy-vs-CD), and I always get the same error.
> 
> Had I the choice, I'd just try a different model card, but that's not
> an option for me (the machine I'm installing it on doesn't have PCI
> slots, and I have gobs of these NICs at my disposal).
> 
> Any idea what happened between 5.1 and 5.3 to break this card? How
> can I get past this error? 
>

Boot from a dos floppy, run 3c5x9cfg, turn off plug and play.

Or alternatively, leave pnp on, and set your bios to "non pnp OS"
if it has that setting.  This doesen't always work.

Be aware the 3c509 needs to be a b version at least (yellow silkscreeing
not white) and even then is a real POS network card for FreeBSD.

Ted